Getting sleeved with less than 100lbs to lose?? Why?

I understand your question and am struggling with a decision.  i've been 190-210 up and down for 15 years.  i'm just tired and sore from weighing so much.  i want to be normal..

i might not have diabetes or anything scary but i'll get there eventually if i don't intervene now.  why not do it before the damage is done?  it's easy right now for me to chicken out because i'm basically scared of complications, only because i'm not in 'bad' shape physically.  it's a hard decision.  i wi**** was easy and perfect.  i change my mind every day.  maybe i'm not ready, maybe i should just jump in and shut up.  i don't want to regret it.  but i know it will probably be worth every bit of pain.

i feel weird when i see people's goals close to my own weight and do feel kind of vain for wanting to be 115lbs *give or take* someday.

I'm 26 years old and had surgery because I've struggled with Weight my whole life going up and down. After I had my son in 2010 I weighed 265lbs. I tried for over a year after I had him to get the weight off and it just wasn't. Happening. I didn want to continue to be miserable in my body, and too tired to run around with my 1 and 5 year old. I wanted to take family pictures with my kids, that I am proud to hang on my walls, or give as gifts. I didn't want to spend anymore of my prime years overweight and miserable because of it. I wanted to be able to wear a bathing suit and go swimming WITH my kids for the 1st time this summer. I knew I could lose the weight, but knew I'd eventually regain it as I always had.

 I am somewhat offended by your question but it probably comes from a lack of understanding of what anyone who is overweight faces. Just like you can't be "a little bit pregnant", being a little bit obese is still obese. I was fat for as long as I can remember. I remember dreading facing each new school year because I was afraid that I would be the fattest girl in the class. Although I was never the fattest, I was fat. I was teased, criticised, made fun of and ignored. My first diet that I can remember was in 4th grade and it continued on until my surgery at age 57. I learned to be ashamed of how I looked and somehow I was less of a person because there was so much of me. I used to go to sleep each night a pray that I would somehow wake up thin. Somehow I have managed to  have a great life, a great family and am a very happy person. The one thing that I have always wanted was to be happy with the way I looked and not to spend each and every waking moment worring about my weight. When I discovered that there was a tool available to me that would give me what I wanted most in life, you bet I jumped on it. I didn't risk much because I had a great and brilliant surgeon who I completely trusted to take excellent care of me. I believe that the drive to the hospital was probably more dangerous than the surgery itself. I lost 80 pounds and people now tell me that I am "tiny". I love hearing that. But the bonus is that I am healthy, don't have diabetes (and know that I never will) have low blood pressure, low cholestrol, normal BMI and can do 50 situps with a smile on my face. I am thrilled that I never reached 200 lbs because that would have really sent me into a depression. Whether it is 80 lbs or 380lbs you have to lose, we all have our own demons to face. Good luck to you and I hope you are as happy as I am with your sleeve. 

As I stated in my initial post I was not criticizing or judging anyone for their reasons but rather wanting to know what motivated them to have the sleeve done.  Obviously, since I weigh more than you have ever weighed in your life I DO know what it is to be OBESE.  Believe me I was called names all my life, picked on and bullied because of my weight.  I have lasting effects from those tortuous years in my life.  Like you I was tired of spending the last 30 years worried about my weight and who would moo or laugh at me.  I even had to face the fact that kids would tease my daughter who was only 8 at the time that she had such a huge mom.  That was the most painful thing of my life to hear my 8 year old defend me.  That was horrible for her and was the turning point for me.  I was tired of the constant pain, lack of mobility, difficulty in finding clothes that fit me.  I too have sleep apnea that my doc told me was one of the worst cases she has ever seen.

So to those who feel offended I am sorry you reacted that way to my questions.  .  We are all here for support, answers, motivation, and encouragement.  I simply wanted to understand others reasons especially those on the "lighter" side.  I wish I had been able to have this procedure years ago, but that was not the case and now I will have to deal with more skin and insecurities than I would have at 225lbs.  Those on the "lighter" side have my utmost respect because they were able to take action way before I was and were brave enough. 

I can't say that I am offended by others offense but I will say it has made me feel much less secure in asking questions in the future on this forum.

Thank you to all of you that responded with your honest and courageous answers.  It really helped me to realize that I have definitely made the right decision for me.  I love my sleeve and would never go back.

 Well, any offense taken is long gone. Of course you are here for support and you shouldn't feel afraid to ask any questions. I only was offended because the pain and anguish that I felt being fat was nothing trivial to me and that was how I took your question. I realize now that that is not how you meant it. To me, being 90 lbs overweight was unimaginable. I am sure that the same feelings that you had at your highest weight was what I felt at my highest weight. It's not the number, it's that lack of control of our lives and of our health. I am now the person I always was meant to be.  Yes, I don't have to worry about excess skin (too much) but I also didn't have insurance to cover the cost. However, this was the best money I ever spent!

I am not offended at all by your question. It is one that I ask myself every single day and probably will until my surgery date comes around!

I need to lose 77 lbs to be at a perfect weight for height for me. If I lose just 30 lbs I'll be out of the danger zone... so yeah, why am I on this path?! Like, I could just go to weigh****chers or the gym or both and that's that. No need for surgery. I have thought of that and I have heard it from friends and family. Everyone says 'Oh but you are not THAT bad' so why have surgery?

Well.... as everyone says, it is very individual so I am speaking from my viewpoint only and what is true for me.

I lost 30-35 lbs (depending on what my scale says on any given day) over the last year and 2 months. It's pretty good... no? But now my scale is slowly, ever so slowly, creeping back upwards... and no amount of 'dieting' is helping these days. I read several posts recently that say that our bodies just go into maintenance mode at some stage. I think that may be what is happening to me.

I have never dropped all of the weight that I need to drop on any of the diets or watching what I eat or exercising (which I really just started now). So I am not a yo you dieter. The max that I've lost (and regained) is 20 lbs at a time and that was a couple of times at most. I have been overweight for the last 15 years so no, not struggled all my life with weight and issues related to it.

However... last year I got the big D Type II diagnosis. I also have had high blood pressure for the last I don't know how many years.. have been on meds for about 6 years. I have borderline high cholesterol. I have back aches, joint aches, knee aches, etc. and I am 47 years old with three teens who are about to be launched and need me to pay up for at least another 10 years!!! So I gotta keep working.

Ultimately I know myself. I am just not disciplined enough and strong enough to do it on my own. I will need the restriction, the fear of busting a staple, the follow up and compliance and accountability.. I need this medically supervised and more than just supervised, I need the intervention.

In addition, apparently the hormonal changes that ensue actually send different messages to the brain that sends the diabetes into remission. It is never cured like one poster mentioned. Once diabetic, always diabetic and it may come back at some stage. This is after all a genetic and intestinal disease so if we don't do anything to our intestimes well.. chances are it may come back. There are plenty of thin type II diabetics out there so it is not the obesity that causes it - it is the other way around. Diabetes causes obesity.. but that's another topic.

So I don't know.. did I answer your question? I tried to answer my own and I think I did that. The pro's of surgery outweigh the con's for me at this stage of my life.

Good luck with yours!!!

Even though I had less than 100 lbs to lose, going by the BMI chart, I was still "morbidly obese" when I had my 1st consult. By the time I had surgery, I had dropped 20 lbs and was "obese". I have struggled with weight my whole life. I was always obese, many years were spent morbidly obese. Like most obese people, I have tried numerous times to lose weight and keep it off. Most of the time I would only lose a small amount of weight, but never keep it off. In the 9 months prior to surgery, I was working with a nutritionist, I followed the diet I was supposed to, exercised and in that time lost a whopping 20 lbs. And I was so good about following the rules! It was very disappointing! The surgery was the only thing that was successful for me. If I didn't have the surgery, I would probably die young like the rest of my family. I am much healthier now and have never had an ounce of regret for doing it.

Many of us NEED that extra help because diet and exercise alone aren't getting us there. GETTING to a healthier place is way more important than HOW we get there.

Good luck on your journey.

This question made me want to. Never mind.

On September 6 2009 my mother died in front of me from diabetes complications.

She was obese and had less than 100 pounds to lose. I needed to lose 90 pounds to be "normal", but I was 110 from my norm.

I guess the "right" thing would've been to be 200 pounds over, sickly and almost dead. SMH.

 It's hard for me to relate, as my goal is to lose 200lbs total (hopefully won't be long now!). But it's all proportional, I guess. The 6'2" guy like me who weighs 400lbs is in just as rough shape as the 5'6" gal who's tipping the scales at 250lbs, give or take a few. So it really comes down to your body type. For me, the sleeve has been working great so far. I wouldn't steer anyone away from it that thinks they can benefit from strong portion control. I think the key here is more than an ounce of prevention. If you're 95lbs overweight, but things aren't getting any better, it's likely the sleeve could help you keep from BECOMING worse. That's just my two cents.

Several things.

First, a short person with less than a hundred pounds to lose can still be morbidly obese. For example, at 5'1" a weight of 215 lbs is 40.6 BMI while a weight of 130 (just 85 lbs lower) is in the normal range at 24.5 BMI.

In fact you have to be 5'4" for the difference between the bottom of morbidly obese and the top of normal BMI exceeds 100 lbs.

Second, lots of people have health issues at less than 100 lbs overweight. If they've tried to lose it themselves (most of us have and statistics say most of us fail) why not choose a surgical option.

Given all that, what surgical option would you suggest they choose, the band? The long term complication rate with the band is pretty significant and it's the least effective for weight loss. Both the RNY and the DS are bigger surgeries than the sleeve so to me the sleeve is the BEST option for someone who needs to get the weight off but is not a heavyweight.